Hamas’s military wing, the ‘Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, or simply Al-Qassam Brigades, launched a Facebook page on Sunday titled “Tala’i’ Al-Tahrir” (Liberation Vanguards).
The page, which features the group’s activities and military training in the Gaza Strip, was created the day after the deletion of a previous page with a nearly identical name and currently has 925 followers.
In a video posted to the page, Al-Qassam Brigades fighters are seen training young scouts to use of weapons and to perform military maneuvers.
The video shows young recruits dressed in black T-shirts and hats, some with their faces painted black, and features a nasheed (“Islamic song”) with the lines: “Resist with bullets; it will not be solved through peacefulness. A bullet in the head will end the existence of the occupier. We want revenge that can only be executed by a hero.”
The Al-Qassam Brigades also has an official Telegram channel titled “Camps of Liberation Vanguards” (1,876 members), that was opened on July 2. On July 10, the channel shared a post promoting its recruitment campaign for the “Liberation Vanguards Camps.” According to the poster, registration was to begin on July 13 at Al-Qassam Brigades military sites and nearby mosques.
The post indicated that candidates for the camp included middle school, high school and university students.
On July 20, the channel posted photos of a press conference during which the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the launch of the Camps of Liberation Vanguards for 2019 under the slogan “To Al-Quds [Jerusalem], We Are Heading.”
It is noteworthy that the Al-Qassam Brigades posted on July 22 on its official Telegram channel (24,690 members) links to the group’s accounts on social media networks, including the “Palestine’s Resistance” Facebook page, a Twitter account and six Telegram channels: Al-Qassam Brigades; Jihadist Quotes; Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman Abu ‘Ubaydah; Oases of Martyrs; Al-Qassam’s Anashid; and Al-Qassam’s.
The Al-Qassam Brigades-affiliated “Palestine’s Resistance” Facebook page was created on June 6 and has 515 followers.
The Al-Qassam Brigades also urged users to join the group’s social media networks via messaging application WhatsApp.